Why It's Taking Off: Couples can create a single wedding gift registry from a network of more than 50 independent shops, brands and artisans.

A few years ago, Amada Allen and Robard Williams were planning their wedding and trying to find time to look for the perfect venue and bridal dress. But when it came to figuring out their registry, they found that their options were limited.

“The local shops that we like didn’t have online registries and when we went to the big department stores, we just had a mediocre experience,” Allen told Mashable in an interview.

So in May 2010, Amanda and her husband partnered with web design company Intersect and created NewlyWish, a wedding gift registry service that lets couples create a single gift list from more than 50 handpicked independent shops, brands and artisans across the United States.

The online platform provides a seamless registry creation process by curating items from each shop and offering couples choices that they wouldn’t normally get from large department stores. Couples can choose to add more traditional gifts like kitchen and bath items to their registry, or leisurely gifts that suit their styles like spas, cooking classes or even tickets to a baseball game.

“Couples are making so many decisions when they’re engaged, and their registry is just one decision,” Allen told Mashable. “NewlyWish provides couples with a personalized shopping experience and options beyond the large big-box retailers.”

Each registry has a unique URL that couples can share with friends and family. If guests decide not to purchase an item on the registry, they can choose to buy gift certificates that couples can use on the site.

Apart from being a registry service platform, NewlyWish also offers other items that couples may need for their wedding plans, such as bridal accessories, wedding party gifts, stationary and items for bachelor and bachelorette parties. The company earns a net margin of between 15%–50% on all products sold on the site.

In November 2012, NewlyWish was selected as the winner of the Women 2.0 PITCH NYC competition out of more than 260 submissions in 24 countries. Now with approximately 1,500 registry profiles, the majority of users are engaged, tech savvy and educated women between the ages of 27 and 35. Most of the women are from major cities in the U.S., including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.

NewlyWish is bootstrapped with $70,000 raised through two Business Plan competition wins, sponsored by Merrill Lynch and Pace University.

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